Kikuchi Takefusa

The Mongols had defeated or annihilated the defenders on the small islands of Tsushima, Iki, Hirato, Taka and Nokono during their island hopping towards the Japanese mainland. Akasaka was the first battle with a real army.[6]

The Mongolian force had landed on Momochi field, Sawara District and divided into two groups one of which encamped at Akasaka. They were attacked by Kikuchi Takefusa losing about 100 soldiers. The greater group retreated to the hill of Sōhara, and the smaller group to Tukahara field in Befu. The Mongolian force pitched a camp on Sōhara field which had a hill 30m in height and a great vantage point of the streets of Fukuoka city. The field is now Sōharakōen "Sōhara Park". The stone monument in the center of Sōharakōen marks the remains of Mongolian soldiers who were killed during the battle. During this battle, Kikuchi Takefusa gained fame for all the heads of the enemy that he collected.[7][8]

From the diary of one of his commanders, Takezaki Suenaga:

"Thinking that I was the first to battle of all the warriors from Higo, I set off from the Hakata encampment. On my way to Akasaka, after passing the gate (torii) of the Sumiyoshi Shrine, I met a man on a dapple gray horse at Komatsubara. He wore purple armor with a reverse arrowhead design, and a crimson billowing cape (horo) and, having just defeated the invaders in their encampment, was returning with a hundred horsemen. The pirates had fled. Two had been taken. He looked most brave and had two retainers walking before him on his left and right carrying heads - one pierced on a sword, the other on a naginata. "Who passes here looking so brave?" I asked, and he replied, "I am Kikuchi Jirō Takefusa of Higo Province. Who are you?" I am Takezaki Gorō Hyōe Suenaga of the same province. Watch me attack! Saying so I charged."[9][10][11]

Also from the Mōko Shūrai Ekotoba: Takefusa and his men boarding the Mongolian ships. You can see Takefusa cutting off a Mongol soldier's head.

The Eastern Route Army arrived at Hakata Bay on June 21, and decided to proceed with the invasion without waiting for the larger Southern force which had still not left China. They were a short distance to the north and east of where their force had landed in 1274, and were in fact beyond the walls and defenses constructed by the Japanese. The samurai responded quickly, assaulting the invaders with waves of defenders, denying them the beachhead.

At night small boats carried small bands of samurai into the Yuan fleet in the bay. Under cover of darkness they boarded enemy ships, killed as many as they could, and withdrew before dawn. This harassing tactic led the Yuan forces to retreat to Tsushima, where they would wait for the Southern Route Army. However, over the course of the next several weeks, 3,000 men were killed in close quarters combat in the hot weather. Yuan forces never gained a beachhead.

The first of the Southern force ships arrived on July 16, and by August 12 the two fleets were ready to attack Japan. On August 15 a major tempest struck the Tsushima Straits, lasting two full days and destroying most of the Yuan fleet. Contemporary Japanese accounts indicate that over 4,000 ships were destroyed in the storm; 80 percent of the Yuan soldiers either drowned or were killed by samurai on the beaches. The loss of ships was so great that "a person could walk across from one point of land to another on a mass of wreckage".[12]